Texas’ job growth slows with only 8,800 jobs added in May

Excerpt

The following is from the June 17, 2011, edition of The Dallas Morning News. Bernard Weinstein, an economist and associate director of SMU's Maguire Energy Institute, provided expertise for this story.

June 23, 2011

By COLLIN EATON
Staff Writer

Texas’ employment outlook dimmed in May as payrolls rose by only 8,800 jobs, a weak monthly gain after seven months of much stronger job market growth.

The payroll numbers amount to a sharp slowdown from April, when Texas added 30,300 jobs. It’s also the state’s worst month since September 2010, when Texas lost 200 jobs.

However, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday that the state unemployment rate stayed flat at 8 percent in May after months of inching lower. . .

But one bad month does not constitute a trend, and payroll numbers show that Texas created about one in every six jobs in the U.S. in May, said Bernard Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.